Read Online Beyond the Sea by Emily Goodwin - Free Book Online Page A

internally sighed. She was gonna have to have a talk with Melia about the male species’ thoughts on birth.
    “Yea, my aunt had a baby.”
    “That’s, uh, good. I was forced to watch my brother and sister being born. I think I’m still scarred from it.”
    “Wouldn’t your mother be the one that got scarred?” Melia asked.
    Jamie elbowed her. “Oh, Melia, you comedian.”
    As they crossed the courtyard, Peter said, “Melia, I was, uh, thinking. Do you, uh, want to go out tonight? Maybe get some ice cream or something?”
    “Jamie and I have plans to watch a movie about ants gathering food for other bugs.” She didn’t notice the horror on Peter’s face, but Jamie did, knowing full well that sounded like a piss poor excuse. It was clear that Peter thought Melia was blowing him off.
             “Melia, I know I made you promise to watch it with me, but you don’t have to.” She prayed Melia would understand her. And after a curious stare, Melia nodded.
    “Tomorrow then, we will watch it.” She quickly whirled around to face Peter. “I’d love to go out with you tonight. And I love ice cream.”
    “Great!” He let out a huge sigh of relief. “Want me to pick you up after school?”
    “I rode with Jamie this morning, so you can take me.”
    “Ok,” he said enthusiastically, already trying to come up with a convincing lie to tell his parents. They took their seats in chemistry.
    “He was so cute and nervous around you!” Jamie whispered.
    “How can you tell?” Melia whispered back.
    “The way he fidgeted when he talked to you. And when you said that you already had plans, his face was so sad!” She giggled. “He likes you.”
    “How can he? We haven’t known each other that long.”
    “Yea, but you did talk for six hours straight, did you not?”
    “Yea.”
    “So it’s like you took a weekend’s worth of dates and crammed them into one night. And then you hung out again the next day. So, technically, you’ve had three dates worth of time with him.”
    “Oh. I guess it makes sense.” Melia opened her chemistry book. “Is he going to expect me to be easy?”
    Jamie laughed. “No, I don’t think so.”
    “At least not on the first date. When should I be easy? The movies say at least three dates.”
    “You mean, when should you have sex?”
    “Yea, that.”
    Jamie smothered another laugh. “You can just say that, then. ‘Being easy’ is different than having sex. And I don’t think you need to worry about it yet.”
    “Right. Because I want to be in love first.”
    “I am not letting you watch anymore chick-flicks.”

    *

    “Brandon told me that Nick told him that Nathan overheard Melia talking about swimming down to the bottom of the ocean to take pictures of some shipwreck,” Janet said with a flip of her short, dark hair.
    “So?” Peter asked with his mouth full. Janet had spent the first half of lunch ‘randomly’ remembering odd facts about Melia.
    “So?! It’s weird! No one can swim that far! Everyone knows she thinks she’s a mermaid!”
    “Janet, that’s bullshit. Melia does not think she’s a mermaid.” Peter finished chewing his sandwich. “And she did take pictures of a shipwreck. I saw them.”
    Janet gasped. “How?”
    “How did I see them or how did she take them? I saw them with my eyes. And in case you haven’t heard of it, there’s this crazy new invention called a camera. Some even work under water.”
    “You don’t have to be such a jerk.”
    “I’m not,” he said defiantly.
    “Well, that’s not even the best part. Nathan heard her say that she used to play inside the boat when she was a little girl.”
    Kaitlin looked up. “The girl’s a freak. I so don’t see why everyone thinks she’s pretty. I mean, she hardly wears makeup, and what’s with the stupid little braids she puts in her hair?”
    Janet agreed. “And the ugly shells she’s always wearing. Hello, she totally wants to be Ariel.”
    “You guys are so jealous,”